...started with its first tournament today (12/15/2012). He Wrestled his first year last year, and had fun, but an early arm injury held him out for 4 weeks, missing a few novice tournaments we were going to hit. But, he came back and finished the season working hard, which is what was important, and had some good matches, and a win.

Today, his second season began. He is Wrestling 6 and under again this year, and he was at 70 lbs. He had 3 matches at this novice tournament, 4 kids in the bracket, and they did round robin style bracketing.

First match was with a kid in our home town Wrestling Club. I hate it when they have to compete against their buddies, but such is life at times. Our club had the most kids there, so it was probably inevitable, and will probably compete against this kid a few more times this year, which is cool. He won his first match on points, going all 3 rounds, and won 14 -5.

Second match he won by pin in the 1st round, and 3rd match, he won by pin in the second round.

He did a great job of listening for one thing, and working hard for another. I told him I just wanted to see him give his all, and work hard, and no matter the outcome, I'd be happy. He shot good takedowns, worked half-nelsons, and did good at staying chest to chest and staying heavy on the other competitors. He needs work on keeping kids from standing and escaping when he is on top, but, all in all, he's got some positives to build on.

Being the proud dad that I am, I'll probably keep updating here as the season goes along. We plan to hit some open tournaments as the year goes along, so he'll get to Wrestle some more skilled kids as well. I told him there will be days when he won't win them all, but its important because he will still learn some good things, and he'll still be Wrestling._________________www.haysgym.comhttp://www.sunyis.com/www.aikidoofnorthwestkansas.com

Good work for your boy and congratulations on his wins! Keep us posted on the season sir._________________Kisshu fushin, Oni te hotoke kokoro. A demon's hand, a saint's heart. -- Osensei Shoshin Nagamine

Congrats to your son for his wins!! And by all means, please keep us updated as the season progresses. Also, great that you were there...these times are going to be great for you and your son as you bond in the MA. I bow to you and your son!!

Congratulations to your son on a great stat to the season. Please do keep us posted on his progress. And you've made the best request of your son work hard and wrestle hard no matter what you aren't just chasing the "w". With mentoring like yours he learn from wins and loses alike. Good luck on the rest of the season.

Tournament #2 of this season is in the books, and if tournament 1 was the up, this one was a down for him, and I felt bad for him for it. He just had a really rough go of it, from match one. This tournament was on 12/29/12.

When I got the bracket, there were a total of 5 kids in it, which I thought was great, because that meant more Wrestling. Then I saw that the 70/73/76 lb weight classes had been combined, which worried me a little, because the year before I was told by a coach that a 2 lb difference in kids is like a 10 lb difference to adults. I had Wrestled him heavy the year before because I was afraid he wouldn't make the weight, and he suffered for it with kids that could just lift him off of them after a takedown. But, this was another novice tournament, so I thought that would likely even things out a bit. I talked with one of the coaches, and he didn't seem concerned.

Match one was with a kid that stood a head taller than my boy, and he was holding his own really well against him, but, during the course of the match, he got picked up and slammed hard, twice. Feet clear off the ground, and thrown down hard, knocking the wind out of him, and I'm sure scaring him a bit in the process. He was pretty well finishing the match in tears after those slams, but he fought hard, and didn't get pinned. Lost by points after 3 rounds. My wife and I had talked to this kids mom, and she said he actually weighed 71 lbs, and is usually in the 73 lb bracket. Someone later on after the meet told me they didn't think the kid was a novice, either, but I wasn't too worried about that, and told my son he would probably Wrestle more kids like that in the open tournaments.

Match two was better. He won by pin in the 1st round. But I had spent a lot of time trying to get him back on track after the first match. He really let that get into his head.

Match 3 was against the same boy from his club that he Wrestled and beat in the first meet. The first time they met was a close match that went all 3 rounds, so I figured this one could go either way. But, my son let some things get inside his head. When they go to practice, they split the classes, and he is in one group, and the other boy in the other. My son is convinced that the other boy is in the "advanced" group, and is getting better coaching and learning more stuff. He lost the match on points, went all 3 rounds, and didn't get pinned, which I think is always good. But he was fussing/crying afterwards, so we went to talk about it, and he told me he went in knowing he was going to lose because of his conception of the practice divisions, etc. I told him he had beat the kid once before, and they were both pretty even, so they might win and lose against each other. But he just really wasn't having any of that, and getting him back on track mentally was tough after that.

His last match was a scratch, as on of the kids hadn't showed, so he had a win that way, going 2-2 for the day. I kept trying to talk with him and keep him positive about everything, but I think that first match really finished him off for the day. But as the week wore on, we talked more, and I took him to the gym and worked on the mats on how to breath out as he gets slammed down, to try to take some of that fear away. I also worked with him on a few more things to help shore up some of his basics as well._________________www.haysgym.comhttp://www.sunyis.com/www.aikidoofnorthwestkansas.com

1/5/2013, tournament #3. This was the his first open tournament of the year, but still ended up with only 3 in the bracket, so each kid wrestled 2 matches. Weight classes 70/73 were combined. First match was against a new kid we hadn't competed against, and he won by pin in the first.

Second match was the other 2 kids in the bracket, and the winner of that match was the same kid he had wrestled the week before that picked him up and slammed him twice. Earlier in the week, I had taken him to the TKD school so we could work on taking slams, and worked on a few other things to help out as well. I spent the next few hours waiting for the upcoming match, giving him little tips and generally convincing him that he could beat this kid just as much as this kid could beat him. Keep his hips low so he doesn't get picked up as easy, and things like that. Well, we finally got to it, and he went in and went after the kid. The other kid was strong enough to just roll out of things, but he kept after him, and made it through the 1st round leading in points, 8 - 4. Second round started with my son in the down position, but he was able to reverse and fight him off, and they kept at it. He did a good job of driving his feet, and really staying on top and in good position to score points. Towards the end of the 2nd round, he was able to trip him and landed on top of him, and shortly after that, he was able to win by pin!